dwarfgourami
Fish Connoisseur
Tonight I fed my livebearers some frozen bloodworm which I've had sitting in the freezer for a few weeks. They fell to with great gusto, but a few minutes later two of my platys were showing signs of distress, flicking against plants and, in the case of the male, seeming really irritable with other fish. The irritation appeared to be in the gill area, judging from the way they flicked.
Immediately tested water: ammonia 0 (or very faint trace, well below 0.25), nitrite 0. It's a 60 ltr tank with 3 platys and 3 guppies in, tank cycled since 1 1/2 month ago, last water change (with dechlorinator) 3 days ago, no changes in tank since initial set up. No signs of ich, gill fluke, anchor worm etc.
Besides, the irritation came on almost at once after coming into contact with this food, and the only unaffected platy was the one who was skulking in the corner at feeding time and hardly tasted it. (Why the guppies were unaffected I do not know). So I find it very hard to believe it was not something to do with feeding time.
I can think of two possibilites:
i) I defrosted the cube in tank water in a jug only used for that thank- so that should be safe. But, in a moment of mental aberration, I did use a kitchen spoon, rather than a dedicated tank implement for pushing it off the rim of the jug. Still, we use very small amounts of washing up liquid and always rinse our cutlery really carefully after washing up, and the spoon was only in contact with the food very briefly- so I would be a bit surprised if it had had such dire effects (but naturally will take good care not to do it again).
ii) there was something wrong with the bloodworms
After about 20 minutes things seem to quieten down, but we did a 30% water change and added salt to the tank.
Last time I checked on them they seemed to be pottering around quite happily.
So what do your reckon happened? Was it the spoon or the food? Or was it sheer coincidence and they are both coming down with something at exactly the same moment?
Will be keeping a close eye.
Immediately tested water: ammonia 0 (or very faint trace, well below 0.25), nitrite 0. It's a 60 ltr tank with 3 platys and 3 guppies in, tank cycled since 1 1/2 month ago, last water change (with dechlorinator) 3 days ago, no changes in tank since initial set up. No signs of ich, gill fluke, anchor worm etc.
Besides, the irritation came on almost at once after coming into contact with this food, and the only unaffected platy was the one who was skulking in the corner at feeding time and hardly tasted it. (Why the guppies were unaffected I do not know). So I find it very hard to believe it was not something to do with feeding time.
I can think of two possibilites:
i) I defrosted the cube in tank water in a jug only used for that thank- so that should be safe. But, in a moment of mental aberration, I did use a kitchen spoon, rather than a dedicated tank implement for pushing it off the rim of the jug. Still, we use very small amounts of washing up liquid and always rinse our cutlery really carefully after washing up, and the spoon was only in contact with the food very briefly- so I would be a bit surprised if it had had such dire effects (but naturally will take good care not to do it again).
ii) there was something wrong with the bloodworms
After about 20 minutes things seem to quieten down, but we did a 30% water change and added salt to the tank.
Last time I checked on them they seemed to be pottering around quite happily.
So what do your reckon happened? Was it the spoon or the food? Or was it sheer coincidence and they are both coming down with something at exactly the same moment?
Will be keeping a close eye.
